Welcome to The Thatcham Databank
Collecting and presenting information about Thatcham
This website will be used to present data that has been gathered during the Thatcham Vision project. The project is involving residents and others with an interest in Thatcham, West Berkshire, in improving the town, its environment and their wellbeing. To visit to our main website, click here. Links identified with the symbol at the end of the last sentence are to other websites: please use the 'back' button on your browser to return here.
Two kinds of information and data have been collected:
- consultation data which enables us to assess the needs, opinions and aspirations of the community; and
- statistics, maps and photographs which are enabling us to build up an overall picture of Thatcham as it is now and which will provide a basis for identifying problems and monitoring implementation of the Thatcham Vision.
Keeping up-to-date with changes to the Databank Edit
The Thatcham Databank will be updated continuously. As new pages are added links highlighted in red will become blue. To find out how to use a 'web feed' to monitor changes to the databank, please click here The page you will be taken to explains how web feeds work and shows how you can use a 'feed aggregator' to monitor changes on this and other websites without needing to visit each one separately.
Please note that in order to maintain the integrity of the data presented here a number of pages have been locked so that they can only edited by the administrator, however if you are involved in the project and would like editing access please email thatchamvision@gmail.com Any visitor can use the 'discussion' tab to post comments on the data.
Consultation DataEdit
Quantitative Consultations
Quantiative consultation exercises are those which were based on forms which included 'tick box' responses, so that the results could be analysed statistically.
- Results of the Thatcham Survey - our major qualitiative consultation exercise - can be found here. Use the controls which appear on screen to adjust the timing of the presentation and to pause or scroll through the slides.
- Every year central Government requires local authorities to conduct a satisfaction survey. Responses from Thatcham residents to the 2006 survey have been extracted from the overall returns and their views are summarised in the Adobe Acrobat file which can be downloaded here. The sample size is fairly small, (240 Thatcham residents responded) but the response rate was virtually identical to the rate across West Berkshire. More information about the survey, including results for the whole of West Berkshire,click here. Although the survey was not conducted by Thatcham Vision it confirms the results obtained from the Vision team's Thatcham Survey and also addresses areas not covered by the Thatcham Survey, such as antisocial behaviour and crime.
Qualitative Consultations
Qualiative consultation involves asking people for their ideas and opinions about the town either on written or online forms or during interviews.
A brief summary of results from our first consultation exercise - which includes responses from Kennet School and from members of the public on the Postcards Exercise page.
Here is a summary of the responses we've received to our 'Wishes' consultation exercise.
You can also find out what 8-12 year olds at Parsons Down School think about Thatcham by clicking here. They've got lots of interesting ideas and a perspective on the town that's very different from that of older age groups we've consulted.
Children at Thatcham Park school have also been thinking about the kinds of changes they'd like to see in the town. You can read a summary of their thoughts and ideas here. As you will see, they have very strong views on a range of subjects, notably litter and vandalism.
You'll need the Adobe Acrobat reader installed on your computer to do read some of these documents. If the document opens after you've downloaded it, you've already got the reader. If not, go click here to visit the Adobe website so that you can download the file.
Maps, statistics and photographsEdit
A document called the 'Market Town Healthcheck' (MTHC) provided a framework for the collection of statistics and data during the development of the first Thatcham Vision Action Plan. This schedule of potentially useful statistics and other data was originally developed by the Countryside Commission for use in local planning exercises like the Thatcham Vision.
A copy of the most recent version of the MTHC for Thatcham can be downloaded here.
A catalogue of the data collected, including that covered by the MTHC, can be downloaded here
Data from the MTHC is also available in separate documents which you can find by clicking on the following links.
General population data and demographics
Housing, including numbers of households
Transport and Access
The Environment
The Town Centre
Senior Citizens Provision
Youth Provision
Social and Community Development
Lifelong Learning
Anti social behaviour and crime
Click here to view some maps of Thatcham. Please note that, due to copyright restrictions, only a limited number of maps can be published at this site. Useful additional mapping data can be obtained directly from the West Berkshire Council and Environment Agency websites.
The Thatcham Vision's collection of photographs is gradually being put onto this website. As well as general photos of the town which will provide a reference against which changes can be assessed in the future, the website includes albums covering transport and access and a series of views from St Mary's Church tower.
PhotographsEdit
The Vision is developing a database of photographs which can be viewed here.
There are also some good photos of Thatcham at the online photo sharing website Flickr.com. Click here to view them. There is a particularly good set of photos here which depict one Thatcham resident's daily cycle route to Newbury via the Kennet and Avon canal tow path.
Online ResourcesEdit
Links to online resources will also be included under each topic heading, but some of the most useful are listed here as well.
The West Berkshire Council research and information page provides links to a wide range of information collected by the Council and other public agencies. These include the 2007 Area Profile, a consultation finder which provides details of public consultations completed in West Berks and a Stats on Maps facility which enables key statistics to be presented on maps.
If you visit the home page of the West Berks site and enter a post code in the 'Fast Access to Your Local Information', box the site will display information related to properties covered by the post code area together with links to other sites including 'Up Your Street'.
The Environment Agency's website includes maps covering waste, river quality and water availability. Click on the link and enter Thatcham in the search box to view maps related to the topics which interest you.
The privately run site Upmystreet.com provides a wide range of information, including availability of services, house prices and data on income levels. Click here to view Up My Street's neigbourhood profile for Thatcham.
New Public Edition Maps websiteis based on Ordnance Survey maps from 1940. Click on the link to see how Thatcham looked then and use the arrows to move around the map.
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